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NatRoad 2015: Talks to begin next month on truck charges

NTC to begin consulting with industry on new charging framework.

 

Consultation with the trucking industry on the establishment of a new heavy vehicle charging framework will kick off next month, the National Transport Commission (NTC) says.

NTC CEO Paul Retter says consultations will be held over two months from September to the end of October on the issue, before the NTC submits its recommendations to transport ministers in November to vote on.

Ministers voted last year to implement new a system in the 2016-2017 financial year to replace the existing model, which has led to the industry being overcharged.

“I intend to come to talk to industry around about middle of September through to the end of October and discuss those options in detail, to give industry the opportunity to understand what ministers are going to be looking at in November and give you the opportunity to tell me what your thoughts are on each of those options so that I can represent your views as part of whatever I put forward to government,” Retter says.

“So I look forward to engaging with those who wish to partake in that discussion from about the middle of September.”

South Australia premier Jay Weatherill last month pledged support for mass-distance-location charging for trucks.

He says SA is willing to be the trial jurisdiction for the scheme, which individually charges vehicles based on the mass they carry, the distance they travel and the roads they use.

But New South Wales trucking group Road Freight NSW says governments should work with the industry on developing fuel-based charging.

It believes this method will be simpler to implement and easier to manage than Weatherill’s proposal.

Heavy vehicle registration fees increased by 0.6 per cent on July 1, but the Federal Government decided to keep the fuel excise frozen at 26.13 cents per litre.

 

Have you got any advice for the National Transport Commission on heavy vehicle charges?

Posted by Owner Driver on Monday, 17 August 2015

 

Photography: Brad Gardner

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